A Triumph of Talent: Katy ISD Honors Scores of National Merit Semifinalists

KATY, TX [October 27, 2025] – Katy Independent School District celebrates more than 100 students this week for earning the prestigious distinction of being named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®). These elite academic scholars represent the top scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT in Texas, placing them among fewer than one percent of high school seniors nationwide receiving this recognition.

“These remarkable students embody the hard work and dedication of our Katy ISD students,” Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership & Support Emily Craig said. “This accomplishment reflects their commitment to academic excellence and the unwavering commitment of their families, teachers and school communities.”

More than 1.3 million juniors across the nation entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). From that group, the highest-scoring students in each state were named Semifinalists. These students are now eligible to compete for more than 6,000 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

To advance to finalist standing, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application highlighting their academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership experience, employment and honors. They must also submit SAT or ACT scores and an essay.

The District recognized this year’s National Merit Semifinalists during a special reception where administrators from six Katy ISD high schools presented certificates of achievement on behalf of the Board of Trustees.

 

Katy ISD 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Cinco Ranch High School

Andrew Xia

Reed Whisenant

Alexander Park

Nathan Olivier

Ivan La

Alyssa Jiang

Elyssa Hung

Ryan Gover

Lucille Ebben

 

Jordan High School

George Rhoades

Enze Yu

Sumanth Sivakumar

Rikin Singhvi

Jay Sahni

Emma Chung

Muhammad Daniyal Salman

Ian Kim

Riya Sharma

Aimee Xia

Johan Jacob

Grace Dong

Ian Choi

Christian Hough

Kyle Nguyen

Caleb Albers

Suchay Kommisetty

Pranav Ramji

Eric Yang

Murugan Jagan

Adleigh Krile

Truman Sun

Anitra Sen

Maggie Yang

Andrea Lopez

Saira Narang

Rishan Hemrajani

Michael Wang

Nathan Xu

Rohan Kishore

 

Katy High School

Dante Balacchi

Spencer Gernale

 

Mayde Creek High School

Jamie Klander

 

Seven Lakes High School

Aarjav Desai

Isaac Park

Veronica Zhu

Annie Zhou

Raina Zhang

Philip Zhang

Michelle Zhang

Merissa Zhang

Eric Zhang

Ken Woodward

Rohanna White

Matthew Tsang

Erica Zhang

An Truong

Aarushi Thatola

Aman Singh

Shailesh Satewar

Urmi Sarkar

Christopher Ou

Terynce Nguyen

Vedant Mohan

Sarah Lee

Aarush Kudariya

Maimunah Kausar

Rahid Ismail

Jarrett Hutto

Aditya Hariprasad

Samir Gandhi

Amaan Faisal

Xinyue Dong

Saumya Dharap

Emmanuelle Chern

Ailsa Cheng

Sherry Chen

Autumn Brown

Brandon Rui

Hanyu Song

Svend Rydahl

Ban Mai Nguyen

Komal Maniar

Brian Lu

Rosie Li

Annie Li

Ruiyang Huang

Daniel Deng

 

Taylor High School

Nitya Bhargava

Joseph Cooper

Travis Feng

Abhishree Gupta

Damon Hong

Timothy Hong

Daniel Kim

Alex Kwon

Jacob Ma

Sheryl Surawijaya

Sophia Tang

Ella Wang

 

Tompkins High School

Racheet Bedi

Arjun Chandupatla

Timothy Chau

Evelyn Chen

Gaoyu Chen

Haofei Deng

Grace Ding

Ryan Du

Jooni Hwang

Joshua Joiner

Abhinav Kanchupatla

Shreyas Kini

Vaishnav Krishnan

Sai Pavan Kukkadapu

Elvin Li

Ryan Lin

Sean Lu

Aahana Rao

Benjamin Van Strien

Faizan Zameer

 

More than 100 Katy ISD students earned the distinction of National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist.

 

 

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